Outlander Season 4 Finale: Man of Worth

Now that I have finally composed myself well enough to take a break from my Droughtlander grief I can honestly say I LOVED the season finale. It was NOT 80 minutes long as the Outlander Official page had announced but I loved it nonetheless. It had everything; tension, victory, pain of separation, twists turns, MurCosta, and the ever so epic, running-to-embrace-your-one-true-love-moment. The previously on segment had a different feel to it this time, it was emotional and beautiful.

Jamie whips out his spy glass — no, his actual spy glass….get your mind out of the gutter sassenachs…moving on. Jamie gets the lay of the land when they arrive at the mohawk village. They enter fairly easily in hopes to trade goods for Roger’s release….this all goes to crap when the Mohawk spot Ottertooths stone hanging from Claire’s neck. You get a healthy sense of fear from the powerful force that is tribal unity. Woo wee! I got chills.

Murcasta – Murtagh and Jocasta get reacquainted…like really reacquainted. Mister white hot highlander laying shirtless in Jo’s bed…wooowee! This was such a pleasant and fun surprise because us book readers pretty much know what is going to happen so to get a surprise like this is a delight. I like them together their bullheadedness is well matched. Their chemistry plays so well on screen and watching this storyline play out will be fun!

Punch Break – Mister achy breaky heart is finally free of the hurt yurt and they are safely away from the Mohawk village. Jamie’s emotions are running high, having parted with young Ian for possibly forever and Roger is just pissed. I mean he’s had a bit of a rough go, it has been almost a year since he has seen Bree and almost died more than a few times and a couple of those times were Jamie’s fault. He needed to punch it out, Jamie lets him because he knows its fair and he’s the epitome of a man. I know a lot of you hate on Roger but give him a break, the worst thing that happened to him in the 20th century was a paper cut on a history book. He’s developing a backbone ok?

Stone Cold Fox – A lot of people hate on Bree because she seems cold and lifeless but if you’ve read the books Claire describes Bree as having the same ability as Jamie to hide what she’s feeling from her face. At times in the books Bree seems pretty cold as well so I really feel like Sophie does a great job of staying true to that.

Ian, Man of Worth – Ok so Young Ian wins this whole episode. John Bell is just incredible. I loved watching this character choose and walk wholeheartedly into his destiny. Watching these two darling men, Uncle and Nephew give their heartfelt goodbyes got me right in the ever loving feels. But when Ian jumps, weaves and crawls his way through the spank chain victoriously I was literally cheering out loud. These scenes were so beautiful.

Roger and the many revelations – Whelp Roger ain’t catching a break yet. Claire and Jamie fill Roger in on the many “developments” that have taken place since the last time he saw Brianna. Of course, this all goes very smoothly, no, no it doesn’t. Richard Rankin’s acting in this scene was impeccable, just when you think he couldn’t be more upset, he makes his face look EVEN MORE upset and shocked. The crazy look in Jamie’s eyes when he grabs Roger by the collar was expert level crazy eyes…I mean like I will kill you so hard you will die TWICE crazy. Roger needs time to process all of this, and I get that. Some of you don’t like that he does this but it is in the book so just chill out.

Bree giving birth – ok so Sophie gets some major points because I am pretty sure my face was the same color of purple when I pushed out my babies. She really looked like she was pushing something out big time. Ok, here are my thoughts about Claire and Jamie not being there for the birth. It sucks. Plain and simple. In the book, there is a beautiful scene where Claire and Jamie are there the entire time she is delivering the baby. Jamie holds her hand and talks to her and Claire takes care of everything else. I wished they could have done more but there was just no time. The network gave them 13 episodes, that’s it. They have to make it work in the time that they have but the scene definitely left something to be desired. There are a lot of time jumps in this season and honestly, that is how you know we could have done with a 16-episode season.

The saddest meet your grandbaby moment ever. Jamie and Claire return without Roger, Brianna is devastated, to say the least. I love the moment with Claire and Bree that they have alone in the bedroom. There is nothing like having your mama back when you really need her. Sigh….

And finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the romantic reunion of Roger and Bree. Brianna sees a lone rider, off in the distance from her bedroom window and she frantically runs down the stairs and outside. The music builds and their bodies meet and all is right with the world. In the words of Walt Whitman, “We were together, I forget the rest.”

The cliffhanger ending leaves Jamie with the task of raising a militia to fight the regulators and killing a one Murtagh Fitzgibbons. The only thing I cared about in this scene was Jamie pulling out his sextacles — I mean spectacles to remind us that he is indeed a sexy and mature man of the middle age variety. It will be interesting to see if they even do the gathering scene (a large portion of the beginning of The Fiery Cross). Jocasta is supposed to marry someone in the next season but Lord knows who because Duncan Innes doesna exist and Murtagh can’t exactly be frolicking about in the open.

I am curious to know how you guys feel about the finale. I feel like they did a great job with what time they had. I smiled, laughed and cried throughout the episode but I will always want longer seasons, and who can blame me. And That’s it Sassenachs! Time to eat our feeling and scroll through sexy Jamie GIFs! I always watch Episode 101 “Sassenach” after a season ends, do you guys have any Droughtlander traditions?

Published by Lauren Kearney Writes

I am a writer and a lover of stories. I am fascinated by the process of the written word transforming into a beautiful imagery captured in one's mind that is unique to the individual reader or writer. Whether fantastical or mundane, a story can not come to life unless it is told to another. I want to share my stories, the happy, the heart breaking, the life changing, the real, the imagined and everything in between. It is a brave thing to really be seen by sharing your story. So dear reader share your story because we all have stories worth telling.
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I liked it a lot. I know a lot of book fans were upset that Jamie and Claire weren’t there for the birth, but I’m not sure how that would have played for TV. It might have seemed a bit contrived for them to turn up in the nick of time. Also, from what I heard (this could be wrong) it was an error initially to have them able to get back in time. It would take about 4 months to walk to Shadow Lake from NC and 4 months back. So 8 months altogether. And if Bree was 2-3 months pregnant when they left, there’s no way they could be back in time. So if that 4 month trip estimate is correct it made sense to do it the way they did. I did miss the scene with Jamie and Claire there, but I see why the show changed it.

The scene were they say goodbye to Ian made me cry. I’ll miss him!

I liked Jamie getting the letter about Murtagh at the end. Yes, of course we know that he’s not going to kill Murtagh! But I think that it signals that the time is coming for Jamie to break away from the British and declare himself a rebel. How/when he’ll do that is a big issue in The Fiery Cross so I liked them introducing the need for it here.

I think that they’ll do the Gathering next season. It might have been awkward to have them show up at the Gathering and then go into droughtlander. Then, when season 5 starts it seems like they’ve been at the Gathering for a year! I think they’ll just do the whole Gathering in season 5 rather than split it.

My biggest criticism about the finale is that we didn’t really get a scene of reconciliation between Jamie and Brianna. One advantage to having him at the birth was that Brianna’s insistence that he be there told him (and us) that she loves and forgives him. I hope we get a scene at the beginning of season 5 that does that.

Oh Lauren, you do such a great job of producing witty prose! I laughed the entire time I read this post! What fun! OK, back to business……about this finale……I loved/hated it!!! I hated the scene of poor little Ian left with the Mohawks. Come on Jamie and Claire…are you going to leave him there with only a teary goodbye? Made me very sad and not liking Jamie, Claire and Roger very much. (I did get over it pretty fast, though!) I did love seeing Murtagh in the “flesh” and of course the ever-lovin’ scene of the two lovers/husband&wife running at break-neck speed to each other’s arms. I definitely loved Roger again when he said, “I’d like to meet my son.” What a sweetie! Bree had better be nice to him cause she’ll end up alone with her “cold-fish” self! I’ll end with this story…..I just read highlights of your blog to my husband and he laughed along with me and at the end asked, “So is this the last episode?” Yes, I answered and my husband whined back, “So what are we going to watch now on Sunday nights? I can’t believe that I have to wait to watch more!” Yes friends, this droughtlander will be hard times!

Great job again. Really enjoy your Outlander blog! I definitely liked the finale but wished it had been longer only because I’m so sad to see it end! It’s Droughtlander time yet again, and yes, I have watched Season 1, Episode 1 more than a couple times! Thank you!

Ahhhhhh – I wanted more. I still think if they had left out the story lines with Frank and Laoghaire, they could have fitted more of the significant events in this short season. I really wanted to see Jaime and Claire with Brianna as she gave birth. I am not happy that they made Murtagh one of the regulators. I am not sure where they are going with that story line, since they also decided that he should be Jocasta love interest. I have to admit that I like them as a couple. I was quite surprised to see them in bed.

OMG – the scenes with Ian and Jaime saying goodbye – so sweet and heart-breaking – they are such great actors. I love the time they spent describing the Indian from the “future” and showing us the Mohawk’s traditions. I also loved the final love embrace with Brianna and Roger, with Roger stepping up and claiming his son.

I will watch all the episodes over and over during Droughtlander. I am also reading The Fiery Cross. Overall, I loved Season 4, and I am looking forward to Season 5.